Follow our live broadcast of the opening ceremony of the winter Olympic games in Beijing.
Seven years after Beijing won the rights to host the 2022 Winter Games, and two days after the competition began quietly when a curling rock slid down an ice floe, China will officially open the Winter Games on Friday.
The ceremony planned by the organizers will be much shorter than usual, but will certainly include the pompous national pride and impressive visuals that are usually expected from the opening event of the Olympic Games.
Since Beijing is 13 hours ahead of the US Eastern Time Zone, the ceremony in China, like many subsequent prime-time events, will take place early in the morning in America. Here’s how to follow.
What time is the opening ceremony?
It will start at 7 am ET on Friday (8 pm Beijing).
How can I watch the opening ceremony?
The ceremony will be broadcast live on NBC in the US, starting at 6:30 AM ET. NBC will rebroadcast the ceremony from 8 pm to 11 pm ET Friday, with a focus on American athletes. Peacock, NBC’s streaming service, will also be streaming the event live.
Not in the United States? The Olympics has dozens of broadcast partners around the worldincluding CBC (Canada), Globo (Brazil) and Eurosport – in partnership with local broadcasters such as BBC (UK), ARD and ZDF (Germany) – in most of Europe.
How long will the ceremony last?
It is expected to last less than an hour and a half, which is relatively light compared to past ceremonies that lasted up to four hours.
What do we know about the series?
It will take place at the Beijing National Stadium, the arena known as the “Bird’s Nest”, which also hosted the opening and closing ceremonies of the 2008 Summer Olympics. Zhang, the director, said there would be around 3,000 performers, up from 15,000 at the 2008 Games. Zhang also presided over the opening ceremony in 2008, which was a generous tribute to China in an attempt to spark national pride.
Will there be fans at the stadium?
Like last year in Tokyo, this year’s events are likely to take place in an almost empty stadium. In January, Beijing said it would not sell tickets to the general public, but some fans vetted by organizers would be allowed to attend.
